sparrowdown

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Posts by sparrowdown

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  114

  Jehovah's Witnesses ARE Christians, why do so many ex JW's deny this?

  by nicolaou in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  jehovah's witnesses accept jesus as christ, the son of god.

  they try, in their own way, to live by his teachings and imitate him.

  they pray, read the bible and meet together regularly for worship.. i won't minimise any of the harm and damage they cause but for the life of me, i can't see how anyone can credibly deny that they are christians.. why do so many former jws have a problem with this?

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  sparrowdown

  Cofty pge 4 -"On that basis there are no christian denominations."

  Ding ding ding! Exactly my point.
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  114

  Jehovah's Witnesses ARE Christians, why do so many ex JW's deny this?

  by nicolaou in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  jehovah's witnesses accept jesus as christ, the son of god.

  they try, in their own way, to live by his teachings and imitate him.

  they pray, read the bible and meet together regularly for worship.. i won't minimise any of the harm and damage they cause but for the life of me, i can't see how anyone can credibly deny that they are christians.. why do so many former jws have a problem with this?

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  sparrowdown

  I would say that JWs give public press release style lip service to Jesus but the majority actually deny him by their rules and regulations and every year at the memorial they literally deny the blood of Christ and the ones that partake arrogantly put themselves on the same level as him. IMO JW's acknowledgement of Jesus is a red herring, I prefer to look at their attitudes and behaviors rather than pay attention to their lying mouths.
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  28

  Another "good" elder might be getting the axe....

  by humblepotato in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  so our congregation is full of hardliner elders, 3 of them, who are not gentle, kind or loving.. people have either moved away or quit trying because one elder inparticular was going to drive them crazy with all his rules and nit picking and being righteous over much.

  (and he is pissed that he hasn't been accepted to the school.

  hmmm, i wonder why!).

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  sparrowdown

  No such thing as a good "elder." Just good men trying to be WT elders while remaining loving and kind, but, because you cannot be a good WT elder and exercise your own conscience something has gotta give.

  Meaning, either you give in to the peer pressure and become a typical psychopath elder or you get axed for being too soft.

  
  
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  22

  Moving to Warwick Video incl. Morning Worship

  by Listener in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  a new video is up about the commencement of moving to warwick.shawn bartlett tells the viewers that jehovah has said, through the governing body, ‘it’s time to move out of brooklyn.

  ‘ then helper robert lucciona says ‘ the governing body, these brothers, as soon as they see god’s direction, they just move, it doesn’t matter if it is long held, cherished ideas, this is the way it has to be done, as soon as they see jehovahs direction.

  he just kept nudging imperfect humans, he knew where he wanted us and then we end up where we are supposed to be.

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  sparrowdown

  Moving to the Warwick hideout is proof that Jehovah has got their back for sure.

  I mean, when the wild beast turns on Babs The Great, destroys religion and the police arrest the asses of JWs right out their own homes and basements they will never think to look for the GB at Warwick!
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  22

  POP QUIZ: You're An Elder, And A Sister Has Suicidal Thoughts...

  by pale.emperor in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  lets imagine you're a jehovah's witness elder.

  you have zero theological training aside from what you've read in the watchtower and the currently still approved watchtower publications, you have zero counseling skills, and no medical training.

  a recently bereaved sister approaches you in tears and tells you she just wants to die.. what do you do?.

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  sparrowdown

  Any counselor or even a good friend would consider the person's situation.

  Questions like

  "What 's going in in your life right now?"

  Most JWs don't consider that's it's their religion (and if their spouse and family are in the same religion) then every emotionally influential person in their life that is inducing in them feelings of chronic invalidation and self-doubt.

  The sort of long term toxic self-doubt that erodes away a person's ability to trust their own judgement, perceptions and feelings.

  WT as a religion and belief system is the cause of many JW's depression - cause and effect.

  Especially the women who are bullied into believing they are crazy, or depressed if they feel anything other than joy at being deemed by the men in their lives as being useless (except for wifely or motherly duties) and voiceless, powerless and inacapable to make even the simplest decisions for themselves without the approval of the group.

  Of course JWs are depressed and suicidal, to be otherwise would mean you have a adjusted to very unhealthy situation. The depression is sign there is part of you that knows something is very, very wrong in your life as a JW that you need to fix.
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  46

  FYI, Eloise Dupuis, 27, a JW, died last Wednesday in a Quebec hospital because she refused a blood transfusion

  by AndersonsInfo in

  1. watchtower
  2. medical

  i just received the following message from a friend this morning.. barbara.

  eloise dupuis, 27 years old, died at the hotel dieu hospital in lévis, quebec, canada, wednesday, october 12th.

  she died because of her religious principles.

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  sparrowdown

  Another blood sacrifice to WT.

  This organization is pure evil.
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  21

  Millions now living will never die (orginally "may" never die) was the WTS lying

  by blondie in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  this was first said in 1918 and adjusted to "will never die" in 1920. of course, the wts taught that the anointed had to die to go to heaven; but there was no great crowd teaching then, so they were talking about all non-anointed people on earth.

  the wts members were known as bible students then and had been expecting the end in 1914 and it was adjusted.

  one date that was stressed at that time was 1925. so i think they idea was that people living in 1918 would be alive to see the end in 1925, which of course did not happen.

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  sparrowdown

  

  Judge Rutherford "I'm a big fan of Satan's original lie, it was an excellent marketing strategy"

  David Splane " I'm a big fan of the "overlapping generations" business model myself"

  
  
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  41

  what are your thoughts on this quote from the elders book?

  by aboveusonlysky in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  'in order to extend mercy, the committee must be convinced that the wrongdoer has a changed heart condition and that he has a zeal to right the wrong and is absolutely determined to avoid it in the future.'.

  shepherd the flock page 91. i remember this is one of the first things that concerned me as an elder because it seemed to sound like a person is guilty until proven innocent rather than 'love believes all things', especially given the word 'convinced' appears in bold.. then in a training video one elder said something like 'unless we are convinced of repentance the shepherd the flock book says we must disfellowship'.

  that was the begining of the end for me as i thought surely true christians would reason the other way round and show mercy wherever possible.. any thoughts?.

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  sparrowdown

  The fact that the elders are trained to believe they have the right and authority to both decide and then judge what another is thinking and feeling says it all really.

  
  
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  19

  Who has the authority to decern what the bible really teaches?

  by TTWSYF in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  so i ask because of all the books, mags and testimonies that the wts promotes.

  not only the wts, but many other christians attempt to speak about the bible with authority.

  how do we measure who is an authority if we don't know that much?.

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  sparrowdown

  My take on this question is this.

  The bible is a book, read it if you like and make of it what you will.

  But, never ever give over your right to think critically and for yourself on the thoughts, observations and accounts contained in it. And, never ever give authority to any person or group to make personal life decisions for you based on what they think the bible says. And never ever give money to any person or group who claims to have authority from God to think for you.

  And finally NEVER EVER believe any person or group who claims to speak for God.
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  19

  LEAKED Talk - Depression Is A Part Of This Life

  by pale.emperor in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  another leak from my collection of talks that i was ordered not to share.

  an elder gave me a ton of talks from bethel and special assembleys to put on his ipod.

  of course i copied them to my computer and will share them for all of us.. depression is a part of this life by brother nathan fuel.. this talk also touches on the subject of family members being disfellowshipped, feel depressed?

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  sparrowdown

  Shunning, victim blaming, depression shaming.....WT could have written the instruction manual on GASLIGHTING!

  They absolute fricken masters at it.

  They could have called it "Gaslighting for Jehovah" but they called it the elders manual instead.